Money orders are a well-known medium of exchange. The inefficiency and ease of producing counterfeit money orders associated with manual money order dispensers resulted in the fairly recent development of automatic money order dispensers having increased security and efficiency. The term "money order" will be used in this application to include other negotiable instruments. Although comprising substantial improvements over manual money order dispensing systems, prior art automatic money order dispensers have been bulky, have printed slowly, have been difficult to reload with blank money order forms, have provided limited security against counterfeiting, and have failed to interface with existing computer and point of sale equipment of the money order agent.
Agents who are authorized by an issuer, i.e., the payor of the instrument, to issue money orders may consist of any of a number of different types of outlets such as convenience stores, check cashing agencies, grocery stores, financial institutions, or any of a number of other retail or financial outlets. In many agent locations there is insufficient counter space to accommodate a keyboard with a connected printer in one location on the counter. Thus, prior art automatic money order dispensers have not been suited for adaptable positioning in limited space areas.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a quick two-part money order dispenser having separate keyboard and printing units for adaptable positioning on, above, or under limited counter space, to provide increased security against possible counterfeiting, and to increase compatibility with existing computer and point of sale equipment.